Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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i Section C game SGHEDULE ^ MEN’S SOCCER vs. Virginia, Aug. 23 , WOMEN'S SOCCER at Clemson, Aug. 29 CONTACT ITS volleyball at Southern Cal Tournament, Aug. 29 xryKA - CROSS COUNTRY at Charlotte, Aug. 30 Story ideas? Questions? Comments? FOOTBALL vs. Louisina-Lafayette, Aug. 30 E-mail us at gamecocksports@hotmail.com - USC aims for improved season \ PHOTO BY TRISHA SHADWELL/THE GAMECOCK George Gause and Moe Thompson perform a hitting drill during summer practice. The Gamecocks are battling a new defense and several open starting positions. , ■ ^ > BY BEN SINCLAIR TILE GAMECOCK The Gamecocks have hit the practice field looking to put last year’s disappointing finish behind them. After starting last season 5 2, USC lost five straight to finish 5-7. With the first game just over a week away, players are fighting for playing time, and the starting lineup appears to be taking shape. The first question every Carolina fan has is who is playing quarterback. Dondrial Pinkins and Michael Rathe both have been best. In a 90 minute scrim mage Aug. 17, Pinkins was 9 tor-19, tnrowing tor 97 yaras ana one touchdown. Rathe was 6-for 10 with 48 yards and one intercep tion, but scored on a fourth-and goal situation from the 1-yard line. “We will not have a quarter back controversy here,” Holtz said. “We will have a No. 1 quar terback, but we will always play two. Why? Because you don’t want to go seven games into the season, lose your starting quarterback and not have someone ready to play." Pinkins is likely the starter, but Rathe will see playing time as well. Bennett Swygert is the third option and Blake Mitchell will likely be redshirted. At running back, sophomore Kenny Irons has been solid and ♦ READ MORE ABOUT THE FOOTBALL TEAM ON PAGE C4 hopes start come fall. In the Aug. 17 scrimmage. Irons had 82 yards on just six carries and scored a touchdown. Irons quietly put to gether a solid fall, but has moved under the microscope because of the hype surrounding freshman Demetris Summers. When offen sive coordinator Skip Holtz dis cussed who would have started had the season opener been on Aug. 16, the only position he did not name a starter was running back. “I like our freshman running backs Demetris Summers and ~~~ v«, Holtz said. “They are both very tal ented. I think you will see us play tnree tauoacKs. It is no secret Summers will play as a freshman, so that leaves one spot remaining. Both Lou and Skip Holtz have been impressed with the play of another freshman running back, Boyd, who in one scrimmage turned a screen pass into a 47-yard gain. However, Daccus Turman and Gonzie Gray are fighting for time as well. The Gamecocks’ wide receivers have greatly improved. Freshman All-American Troy Williamson re turns for his sophomore campaign and is clearly the go-to guy. Taqiy Muhammad impressed many at the spring game and should get plenty of looks from either quar terback. Chavez Donnings, Matthew Thomas and Kris Clark are looking to get the nod as the third receiver. The wild card is highly touted freshman Syvelle Newton, who has been moved to wide receiver from quarterback and is commanding the attention of the coaches with his playr Newton had four catches for 35 yards in the Aug. 17 scrimmage and scored on a 70-yard run play in another scrimmage. Lou Holtz said this year’s receiving squad doesn’t “resemble last year’s group at all. They are much im proved.” The offensive line will be an chored by tackles Travelle Wharton and Na’Shan Goddard. Jabari Levey and Jonathan Alston have been solid guards and John Strickland will start at center. The offensive line has gotten bigger and more talented each season un der Holtz. This year is no differ ent. Every projected starter weighs more than 300 pounds and every backup either weighs 300 or is close. The key to success will be avoiding injury because many backups are freshman with no SEC experience. One or two in juries to the offensive line could devastate USC’s chances of a win ning season. Hart Turner will start at tight end and should be more involved in the offense this year. Josh Brown is likely to be named as the punter this fall. Lou Holtz said that Joey Bowers or ♦ FOOTBALL, SEE PAGE C4 Time to trade summer smells for the sweet aroma of pigskin TYLERJONES SPORTSDESK@HOTMAIL.COM Faith and confidence key to winning season. The long and lugubrious “dog days of summer” are now behind us, and although the thermome ter and the calendar say that it is still summer, I know better. How do I know? Perhaps it is the scur rying of freshmen ants and their high-socked parents toting God knows-what into the dormitory cells, in which they are to serve a two-semester sentence. Or maybe it is the sparsely populated beaches that have grown quiet of plastic shovel welding children hissing in pain from their first jellyfish sting. No, friends, it has to be the smell of football that is floating up from the practice grounds outside of Williams-Brice Stadium. For a sports junkie like myself, the in escapable doldrums of July and August (there’s nothing to watch but baseball and maybe the X Games ... don’t even say the WNBA) are in the rearview mir ror, and now it is time to get down to business. Everyope from the most pious priest to the finest pros titute in Baton Rouge has an eye on the upcoming football season. No one more so than yours truly. Many a great writer has waxed poetic on the butterfly stomaching wonder that is antic ipation. That moment or mo ments before action where the brain rolls over and over in thought, trying to predict or per ceive one’s feelings when skin meets skin, or in this case, when pigskin meets skin. Yes, it is an ticipation that is better than the act itself. It is, of course, no dif ferent with the college football season. Ask yourself, which was bet ter: The tailgate or the game? The argument with your “friends” from Clemson in February over whom had the better recruiting class? Or the tingle that runs through your core as “2001” cranks up and the collage of 85,000 half-crazed fans chafe their beer soaked throats attempting to reach new octaves. True, it is the game that takes center stage, but how many sweet memories do each one of you have of waking up the morning before the game and thinking — regardless of what state of mind you put your self in from the night before — “I cannot wait to get this day start ed?” For those of you who have not had that experience, I can only say that I hope to see you Aug. 30 at 6:59 p.m. in Williams-Brice Stadium. Some of you recognize my ugly mug and my name from last year’s Viewpoints section. Fortunately for me, and hopeful ly you, I have decided to switch gears and leave the sordid world of politics for the sexy and crimi nal world of sports. Although the political sphere is far removed from the realm of the innocent, it is a vile and nasty arena, full of repugnant beasts that have no de cency whatsoever. At least sports has given this full-time cynic an occasional breath of hope. That’s right, folks, I will admit, under oath, that I ♦ JONES, SEE PAGE C3 Tanner’s ‘special summer’ has silver lining for U.S. baseball team PETE IACOBELLI THE ASSOCIATED CHESS COLUMBIA — South Carolina’s Ray Tanner could only think of one thing to better his summer leading the U.S. national team — a baseball gold at the Pan Am Games. 1 can’t imagine a more tremen dous experience,” Tanner said from his office Monday. The Americans took silver and fin ished their spectacular summer at 27-2. Their losses were to Nicaragua in a preliminary round game and then in the champi onship to the powerful Cubans, 3-1. “It was certainly a special sum mer,” he said. And a busy one. Tanner led the Gamecocks to their second-straight College World Series appearance, then headed straight for the national team’s camp in Arizona. Right away he realized the best chance for his college group to suc ceed against the older and more experienced players of Cuba and others regional teams — former major leaguer Luis Polonia played for the Dominican Republic — was their pitching. Stars like Jered Weaver of Long Beach State and Huston Street of Texas were more than up to the task, Tanner Tanner said, lead ing the United States to its winningest season ever. “We had a whole lot of guys who could completely dominate,” . Tanner said. “Dominate. You don’t see that often. We knew we had to use them. And they pretty much did.” Tanner tried to set the tone ear ly. He told the group they were all special players, all stars on their campuses. But the U.S. team wasn’t about stars. “I said if they had any agendas of their own, they needed to set them aside or talk to me about it now,” Tanner said. “All of them put themselves sec ond to the team. That was one of the best parts about the trip.” Another was the weeks spent in the baseball-crazed Dominican Republic. People would see Tanner and ask for his autograph. Baseball academies grooming the next Sammy Sosa were everywhere. Whenever the Americans bused around town, they saw makeshift fields filled with youngsters play ing the game. “I don’t even know if they Were always using a bat in some of them,” Tanner said. “A lot of times, it was just a stick.” When the United States played the Dominican team in the open ing round, “there wasn’t a seat to be had,” Tanner said. “You can’t believe the passion there is for the game there.” After the Americans beat Mexico to reach the semifinals, Tanner prepared them for a gold medal showdown with the re gion’s longtime baseball power in Cuba. Weaver, the starter, retired nine of the first 10 Cubans and the young Americans looked like they might pull it out. Then momentum began to shift, Tanner said. The moment he knew for sure? When Tanner saw the Cuban cen ter fielder make what he called “the most amazing catch I have ever seen.” Tanner said second baseman Eric Patterson clubbed a ball that was sure to hit the open warning track or the base of the wall and ♦ TANNER, SEE PAGE C3 Tanner’s U.S. National Baseball Team ♦ The team finished 27-2 on the season. ♦ The U.S. National Team outscored its opponents 179-44. ♦The largest winning streak was 25 games. ♦ The combined pitching staff’s ERA was 1.29. ♦ USC junior Matt Campbell had a 3.31 ERA in I 116 1/3 innings pitched. He also had 28 strikeouts and earned one save. ♦ The team combined for 30 home runs in their Play- "